The Tiverton couple accused of using their three young children to raise money for a fake school fundraiser have been apprehended in Florida.

Aaron Gelinas, 31, and Kimberly Leverett, 28, are in the custody of the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office after they were found Tuesday in Spring Hill, Fla., authorities said.

Gelinas and Leverett, both of 78 Merritt Ave., Tiverton, are awaiting extradition to Rhode Island to face charges of neglect of a child, obtaining money under false pretense and contributing to the delinquency of minors.

The couple’s three children — two girls ages 4 and 8, and a 12-year-old boy — were located by the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Children and Families. The children are healthy and are in the care of DCF in Florida, Tiverton police Capt. Patrick Jones said.

Hernando County sheriff’s deputies first arrested Leverett at 9:54 a.m. Tuesday after pulling over her vehicle. Tiverton had advised authorities in Florida to be on the lookout for the couple’s car, a silver Honda. Authorities arrested Gelinas at 5:12 p.m. Tuesday at the Spring Hill residence where the couple was staying, police said.

Leverett also had an outstanding warrant in Hernando County for allegedly missing a court hearing for a petty theft charge, according to the arrest affidavit. Leverett and Gelinas are both being held without bond at the Hernando County Detention Center while they await extradition.

“We were looking for (Gelinas and Leverett) last week. Apparently they were in transit at that time,” Tiverton Police Chief Thomas Blakey said, adding that the defendants had relatives in Florida. Blakey said Hernando County authorities informed the Tiverton Police Department that the suspects had been arrested Tuesday.

“They were in contact with our detectives, who were giving them the facts of the case,” Blakey said.

Tiverton police said Gelinas and Leverett ordered their children to knock on doors in their quiet residential neighborhood and say that they were raising money for a bowl-athon to benefit the Tiverton School District. The children collected about $500, most of that in $10 or $20 increments, police said.

Suspicious residents began calling the Tiverton Police Department on Nov. 13. Detectives identified Gelinas and Leverett as the suspects after interviewing neighbors and obtained a search warrant for their single-family home, where they found “deplorable conditions” that included animal feces littered throughout the house, police said. The town shuttered the house, citing the unlivable conditions inside.

Neighbors told The Herald News that Gelinas and Leverett, for several months, constantly sent their children to their houses to borrow money and to ask for food, as well as to solicit donations for various fundraisers that the neighbors began to suspect were fraudulent.

Neighbors also said they previously contacted the Tiverton Police Department and the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families to report their concerns about the children’s welfare. A spokeswoman for DCYF said Wednesday that she could not confirm nor comment on the agency’s dealings with minors. Blakey said he was unaware of any prior police calls to the defendants’ house.